U.S. Announces New Efforts to Combat Mexican Drug Trafficking Trade

June 9, 2009

By BEN BUCHANAN

The U.S. Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security have announced a broad new plan to reduce the amount of drug activity in the Southwest, calling for increased coordination between federal, state, and local agencies and strengthening of joint U.S.-Mexican anti-trafficking efforts.

The strategy is another step in the Obama administration's effort to fight continued drug smuggling, following the administration's announcement in March of a $700 million effort to jointly work with Mexico on slowing the main entry channel for illegal drugs sold in the US.

According to the U.S. government, 90 percent of cocaine sold in America comes from Mexico, and the drug cartels have distribution networks in 230 U.S. cities.

"Drug trafficking cartels spread violence and lawlessness throughout our border region and reach into all of our communities, large and small," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement announcing the new plan which, he said, provides a way forward to crack down on the cartels.

The new strategy aims to combat these cartels by establishing new channels of communication between involved agencies and utilizing new personnel and technologies to expand the amount of information available.

It includes a call for increased prosecutorial and disruptive efforts, including the assignment of attorneys from the Department of Justice's Violent Crime and Gang Unit to the southwest border and additional resources for the offices of southwest U.S. Attorneys.

These steps from the Justice Department are designed to work in tandem with efforts by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The plan aims to weaken drug-smuggling organizations, which account for between $18 billion and $39 billion in money laundering annually, and builds on already existing plans to improve coordination between the U.S. and Mexican judicial and prosecutorial systems.

"Together, we will continue to reduce the flow of illegal drugs across the Southwest border and ensure that those who ignore our laws are prosecuted," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said.

New Plan to Combat Drug Trafficking

At the federal level, it reestablishes the Interagency Working Group on Intelligence Coordination, which links efforts from the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.

It also calls for an expansion in the use and integration of technology, including license plate readers and biometric recognition software and databases and for new "non-intrusive inspection technologies" to be sent to the 43 legal points of entry on the border. The plan for increased use of databases is linked to the Mexican government's expanding reliance on biometric information and raises the possibilities of "future comprehensive bilateral collection, maintenance, and sharing of information" on potential smugglers between the two nations.

The modernization effort includes a review of all airborne tracking technologies in use on the border, including the use of unmanned aerial systems.